Latest Blogs

How to Self-Edit Your Academic Writing

29 October 2026

Navigating Your Career

How to Self-Edit Your Academic Writing

Part of the writing process is rewriting. This happens on both the macro and micro scale. From looking at the bigger picture and carefully considering what works and what doesn’t, to looking at the article word by word. All of these components come together to make a clear, educational piece of academic writing. How to reach this goal, though, takes several steps. Self-editing requires more than one pass in order to perfect a piece of writing—or get as close to perfect as possible. While there are services that provide editing for you, learning how to self-edit is important. It helps you think critically about your work, improves your grammar and punctuation, and ensures that you maintain control over the content. Additionally, the better you get at self-editing your work, the more time and money you save down the line. This is because the manuscripts you submit to journals will need less intervention by the in-house editors, and you won’t need your work double-checked prior to submission. If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve provided a few jumping-off points below. What is self-editing? Editing is the process of correcting grammar, punctuation, structure, and clarity prior to publication. To self-edit is to perform this process without the help of an expert editor. Editing generally takes place after the entire project has been written. This way, there’s a clear picture of the errors within the article and of what changes need to be made. A well-edited piece is also more likely to be published, since a nearly error-free manuscript is considered to be more professional. The degrees of editing Within editing, there are different levels. There’s language/line editing, which evaluates the overall flow, structure, and readability of the piece. It looks at how sentences are constructed. Are they awkward? Do they convey their intended meaning? Do they make sense within the context of the paragraph? It also looks at grammar conventions, such as word choice, consistency in terminology, and the formalness of the tone. Language editing ensures that the writing makes sense to the reader, leaving no room for ambiguity. In scientific writing, this is especially important, since the data should be presented straightforwardly without the possibility of multiple interpretations. Proofreading is what happens after an article has been edited for clarity. This is where small spelling and punctuation errors are cleaned up, since they can be missed on the first couple passes. If the article is being submitted to a particular journal, proofreading can also include making changes that align with the journal’s style guide. This could be the English language variant (American or British) used, capitalization of terms, and whether or not numbers are spelled out. The three pass rule As mentioned in the section above, editing usually takes place across multiple passes. A pass is when the manuscript is read in full while making edits. One pass is rarely enough to guarantee an error-free article, especially if you’re self-editing. This is because our minds can easily filter out issues by correcting them while reading. If we already know what we meant to say, then the mistake won’t be obvious since, mentally, we’ve filled in the gaps. A pass for every degree of self-editing The first pass deals with the big picture. This means that language and punctuation aren’t the concern, but rather the overall structure. For example, you could rearrange sections on the first pass so that it follows the IMRaD framework. You’ll want to deeply read your arguments, trying to imagine them from the perspective of an outsider. Perhaps even at this stage, showing it to a colleague or friend will help you see where your ideas are unclear. The second pass is where language editing comes into play. Now that you know how the larger parts are working together, you can begin to go through the piece line by line. You’ll still want to pay attention to structure, but this will happen on a smaller scale. You’ll be evaluating how you’ve organized your paragraphs, their sentences, and whether or not every word and punctuation used aids clarity or makes things difficult to understand. This is also the pass where you look for tonal issues. Typically, academic articles require a formal voice. This means avoid using contractions, and spell them out where you have.
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

209

How to Write an Academic Manuscript

22 October 2026

Navigating Your Career

How to Write an Academic Manuscript

Sitting down at your computer to write an academic manuscript can be a daunting task. You may have done all the research, dutifully made notes about your experiment and the results, but now that it’s time to write it out, your mind is a blank. Where do you start? Are there rules you need to follow? How can you guarantee your work is understood? Thankfully, there are several steps and processes you can follow. While there are variations in form across academic disciplines and paper types, there’s still a solid foundation for you to adapt as you see fit. Here, we’ll take a look at the kinds of papers you can write, how to begin and position them, and how to improve your craft along the way. The different kinds of academic manuscripts What comes to mind when you hear the term “academic manuscript”? For most, it’s a research article. These are the papers commonly published in peer-reviewed journals, both traditional and open access alike. They summarize an experiment and the data from it and provide an overview of the findings. While they draw conclusions based on interpretations of the results, they are generally without bias or personal opinion. They exist to provide information in a clear and concise way. However, research articles are only one option when it comes to writing an academic manuscript. The form that your data and arguments take depends on what you’re trying to convey. Did you perform a deep dive on a solitary study or patient? You’ll most likely want to turn your findings into a case report, then. What if that deep dive touches on a broader subject that requires more than a single article to talk about? Then you’ll likely be looking at writing a book or monograph. Additionally, think about how you want to present the findings. Are you trying to persuade the reader? Analyze a set of data without offering a larger or controversial interpretation? Do you simply want to critique information or the literature on your chosen subject? These goals will determine what kind of paper you should develop, as not all formats will support argumentation or statistical analysis. A couple more examples Review articles analyze the literature in a particular field and/or topic. They critically evaluate writing and research on this topic and provide a perspective on the material. Abstracts are a collection of just that—abstracts. They provide an overview of a variety of papers, usually presented at a conference, and are printed together in a journal issue. Reports are similar to research papers, though they focus more on the results of a study and are usually produced by an institution rather than a group or individual scientists. Who and what are you writing for? How you frame your research may depend on the content itself, but it also may depend on who or what you’re writing for. Some academics choose a journal they’d like to submit their academic manuscript to prior to finishing or even writing their piece. If a journal only takes research articles written following a certain set of principles, then that will inform your decision. If you don’t have a specific journal in mind, focus on your intended audience or message. Are you concerned with reaching academics in a niche field over the general public? Longer format works can be beneficial in that case. Or, at least, reducing your findings into a brief paper may not be necessary. Do you want to highlight a specific part of your study? This could be the tables and figures. Perhaps the results are more important than the methodology, in which case writing a report over an article makes more sense. Many academic manuscripts will include an introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections, but some mediums are better suited to what you want to focus on.
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

343

Tips for Practicing Your Academic Writing

15 October 2026

Navigating Your Career

Tips for Practicing Your Academic Writing

How well a paper is written impacts its influence. For research data and findings to be understood, they need to be communicated in clear, direct language. Readers from both the public and academia should arrive at the same interpretations of a text. Writing effectively, though, requires practice. Writing is a skill that needs to be practiced. And while writing a research paper is, in and of itself, practice, more can be done between papers and during the process of writing one to get better at it. What makes writing “good”, though? And what are some academic writing tips that will help you improve? Here, we’ll answer these questions and provide you with steps to take toward bettering your work. What makes a piece of writing “good”? The definition of “good” writing changes between scientific disciplines and fiction versus non-fiction. Clear, concise writing that includes transition words and sentences, as well as a definite paragraph structure, is ideal. Specifically, sentence lengths are varied, but should stick to the shorter end of things to avoid complication. Paragraphs begin with a topic sentence, then body of the paragraph explains that topic, and the paragraph concludes with a final remark that leads into the next topic. Language should be simple. Use short, common words. Certain scientific subjects do require complex terminology, though. This can’t be avoided, since these kinds of words are crucial to the information being given and the accuracy of the text. However, ensuring that the language around your jargon clear helps keep the piece’s difficulty balanced. Ultimately, that’s the heart of all academic writing tips: balance. The differences in writing for humanities and social sciences vs. STEM Within academic writing, there are variations in the needs of social sciences and STEM subjects. While STEM discourages the use of first-person, such as “I think”, humanities topics are generally based in theory rather than hard statistics. This makes it okay for writers to sometimes use this kind of language. However, third person is generally considered to be more formal and conveys a lack of bias. Additionally, humanities and social sciences papers can use more flowery prose, meaning their language doesn’t have to be as direct as within STEM. Math equations can’t be described in a poetic way, after all. They are matter of fact. While both deal with research, their approaches are different, meaning there are different standards for the writing.
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

218

How Posting Promotes Open Science

01 October 2026

Navigating Your Career

How Posting Promotes Open Science

Social media is a valuable tool. These platforms are public, generally free to access, and focus on networking. They are designed for writing and sharing ideas, reading the works of others, and talking about them. This is similar to open access publishing and open science. Digital, transparent, and free communication for the sake of knowledge sharing. And, importantly, the advancement of science, too. As social media becomes more important to academics, it’s necessary to consider what it can do outside of online and social engagement. For instance, how can posting on social media further the open science movement? How can it make scientific data easy to understand for the public? And, importantly, how can it improve the reach and diversity of research? Here, we’ll take a look at a few of the benefits of being active online in the academic community. What is open science? Open access publishing refers to making research free and accessible to the public. Open science broadens this outlook. It encompasses the entire research process, the data, and its reproductions. The goal of this initiative is to not only be transparent about how and where data is coming from, but to ensure that studies can be replicated globally. This means that academics in countries with less resources, such as in the Global South, can follow proven methods to conduct studies. This wastes less time and funds. It also allows important research to be performed in typically neglected areas. Additionally, it gives all academics the opportunity to contribute their findings to the overall discussion. They can provide differing points of view that recontextualize and expand upon these works. Posting in layman’s terms So, how does posting on social media contribute to this movement? For starters, social media requires posts, whether they’re text based or include graphics/videos, to be understandable to the general public. This means text should be free of scientific  jargon, as this performs better by reaching wider audiences. Wordcount limits prevent posts from being too long, meaning text has to be brief and to the point. This eliminates room for overly scholarly language or dense walls of text. Videos and infographics are popular with social media users and algorithms. Visual mediums improve the engagement with and understanding of scientific ideas. Being able to see what’s described is helpful, after all. All of this means that posts, by their very nature, are for the people rather than just the niche academic communities they belong to. When information is presented briefly and clearly, it makes scientific findings easier to follow. People who wouldn’t typically have access to this knowledge can find it freely. And when they do find it, they can read and talk about it with academics and other social media users. Science becomes approachable via social media. Social media keeps everyone up to date Timeliness has always been important in academia. Being able to quickly share findings and gather feedback is a large part of why we have open access journals and a variety of publication forms, such as preprints. Removing barriers to information means that results can be produced faster. For certain subjects, such as medical research, time is of the essence. Social media has given the world at large the ability to share information immediately. As soon as a news story breaks, thousands of people are talking about it globally. Sometimes, users posting videos or live updates of an event are how news stories break.
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

230

Emailing Academics: How to Start the Conversation

17 September 2026

NetworkingNavigating Your Career

Emailing Academics: How to Start the Conversation

A myth portrayed by the internet is that, by following each other, we’re somehow all connected. This is true to a point, but connection can only truly come from interaction. Likes, shares, and follows will only get you so far when you’re trying to build a digital network. They especially don’t outright showcase a desire for communication. In academic and corporate circles, discussion is necessary for connection. So, even with the perceived closeness social media has given us, how do we reach out to those we want to work with? How do we know when we’re crossing boundaries or being unprofessional? And how do we use online communication to share our research and create new relationships? Let’s break down the art of talking online so that you can confidently approach anyone in any format. Choose your medium There are a few ways to start the conversation: comments, direct messages, and emailing. Comments are great for showing your expertise and personality. Additionally, algorithms prefer profiles that leave comments. It shows that you’re an active user and helps establish your interests and desired community. Find posts that appeal to your research. Maybe you’re the one who’s crafted a post about your interests and ended it with a question, sparking a conversation. Posting comments helps you and your work get seen in overcrowded online spaces. Besides, digital networking isn’t always about one-on-one connections—the smaller discussions matter, too. As for direct messaging and emailing, these have a similar purpose: you have something to pitch and would like to offer your services or request help from someone you think is a good match. You could also be looking to expand your digital network and view them as a potential employer or collaborator. Regardless, the intention behind your communication is more personal and direct. While each of these methods requires a slightly different mode of communication, the underlying theme is the same: use a professional, friendly tone. Be aware of these digital networking conflicts Tone is easily the most difficult part of digital networking. Comment sections can feel casual, so it’s not hard to get caught up in their quick nature and be less thoughtful with your replies. Maybe you’re not proofreading as deeply. Maybe you’re not paying attention to everyone’s contributions to the conversation. Either way, there’s more opportunity to slip into a dialogue that is less professional. When it comes to direct messaging and emailing, what starts as genuine can slowly become pestering. Remember to allow people time to respond to your messages—there is and isn’t an appropriate time to follow up. Direct messaging is useful for contacts you’ve made through social media, such as SciProfiles, and can be the bridge that helps you ask for their email. However, that does mean there is less familiarity between you and the person you’re contacting, so keep that in mind in your opening messages. Introduce yourself, keep your pitch brief, and make sure to mention something from their profile so they know you’ve done your research. Email is a whole other story, which we’ll tackle in the next section. In general, though, keep your communication topical, well-researched, and overall polite. Don’t let the informalities of social media make you too comfortable in conversation. You want to be confident, but there’s a balance. Email etiquette for first messages and beyond Nobody wants to receive an email that is clearly a template. People are busy, messages pile up, and when they finally get to the stack, they want to know that their time isn’t being wasted. The best and earliest way to set the tone for your sincerity is to be direct and factual. Mention who you are, if you’ve met (and if not, mention something about their work that you have in common), and make your request. Introductions are necessary online, even if you follow each other’s profiles. If you haven’t met previously, letting the other person know this isn’t a random email goes a long way. Look at their past work, who they know, and what they’re interested in. Use this information as a means of establishing that you’re not a bot or sending off impersonal messages. And, importantly, this information should align with your reason for reaching out to them in the first place. If you first met at an event, such as a conference, a follow-up email to re-establish your connection is important to solidifying your budding working relationship. The cold approach Cold approaches are intimidating. You aren’t guaranteed a response, and even with the perfect pitch, your message may go unread. However, there are a lot of benefits to taking the leap. You never know when you may add another connection to your digital network this way, and hopefully, transform your online relationship into a real-world one. While we’ve discussed why templated emails are a no-go, other important etiquette includes: A professional subject line (no spelling mistakes, incorrect punctuation, or inconsistent capitalization) that is short and sweet while also interesting enough to rope the reader in; Body text that is perfectly proofread and free of errors; Triple-checking that you’re writing to the right email address; An email signature. Overall, you want to present your reason for emailing them concisely, and emphasize the value behind a potential collaboration. What do you bring to the table? Where can you improve a research area, a digital network, or a work environment? Grab their attention, and prove yourself in order to keep it. Persistence is key to growing your digital network It can be nerve-wracking send off the first message or comment. It can be even more so if you don’t get a response. There is a polite way to follow up, though. In fact, following up is a necessary skill in academia and the workforce at large. The reason why someone didn’t respond is not worth worrying about. We don’t know if they were busy (they likely were), didn’t see the message, or, unfortunately, didn’t want to. Trying to fill in that blanks leads to making unnecessary and potentially harmful assumptions. And regardless, you still have a second chance, even if they didn’t offer it up to you verbally. Because you’re taking a shot in the dark, though, tactfulness is very important. Do wait a while before sending a secondary message. Give people a week or two to get back to you. Once that time has lapsed, send a brief message. Keep it light, reiterate your intentions, and perhaps throw in a bit of news. Maybe the person you’re reaching out to just had an achievement, or the company you’d like to work with hit a milestone. Don’t ask why they haven’t responded. You don’t want to create a conflict. Circling back to the topic of tone, it’s hard to perfectly communicate it online. So be wary that you aren’t accusing the person you’re messaging or coming across impolitely. If your second attempt is also ignored, it’s safe to leave it at that. Knowing when to walk away is crucial to digital communication. The first message is the hardest Whether you’re responding to a comment thread, sending a direct message to someone you saw on SciProfiles, or cold emailing a fellow academic, sending a message easier said than done. Remember that the person on the other side of the screen is just like you: they had to start at the bottom, search for connections, and potentially face rejection along the way. But the more you put yourself out there, the more natural it becomes. Practice is just another form of persistence, and persistence is how you develop your digital network.  
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

330

Social Media Use for Academics: Marketing, Connection, and Identity Creation

03 September 2026

Networking

Social Media Use for Academics: Marketing, Connection, and Identity Creation

Social media is a valuable resource for all academics. Whether you’re promoting your work, a journal you run, or are simply trying to find your community, there’s something for everyone. Social media, conversely, is also a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, being able to network with fellow scholars and share your work has never been easier. On the other, trying to break into an oversaturated algorithm with your own content is no small feat. Just because the task is daunting, though, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. And it certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Together, we’ll look at some tips and tricks you can use to harness media platforms to expand your reach. Creating your digital identity Through publicly sharing curated and thoughtful information about yourself on social media, you’re establishing your online brand of sorts, even if you’re not selling a product. At the end of the day, when it comes to online spaces, our personalities are the brand. But before you can begin crafting one, you must ask yourself the age-old question: who am I? While it may seem like the answer isn’t evergreen, when it comes your online profile(s), it’s actually quite simple. When you chose your academic career, you had to specialize in a certain area, and that’s what you’re doing with your digital profiles. For more professional and traditionally academic social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, you’ll want to highlight your areas of expertise, the research you’re currently working on, and your scholarly goals. For more populist corners of the Internet, such as Facebook and X, showcasing your personality alongside your research is best. You’re not hiding parts of your persona, just picking and choosing when to forefront which aspects. Finding your audience After creating your digital identity, it’s time to share it across multiple platforms. When it comes to platforms like LinkedIn for academics and more community-based hubs such as Sciprofiles, the share of users with similar interests to you is greater. Sciprofiles in particular is a great way to ease into networking if it’s not something you’ve done before. You’ll know that everyone on the platform is looking to build a scientific community and promote their academic work. From there, you can grow your outreach. Cross-post from LinkedIn and Sciprofiles to less specialized platforms, and watch your audience expand. It may seem like a waste of time to create academic content for platforms such as TikTok and X, especially when they have reputations for spreading misinformation. But there’s a growing trend of mainstream audiences seeking out scientific content. Making short-form video essays on your research could lead to explosive engagement. Transfer those short ideas to long-form content on YouTube, and you can easily scale your community. X may be known for its discourse, but starting a conversation could be the ticket to getting eyes on your profile. Use those views as a way to direct them toward your website or LinkedIn profile (where your more profession-oriented posts live). Thinking about how to make your area of study interesting and digestible for the broader market can help you step outside your box. And it could open several doors for you, too. Creating academic and promotional content for social media As touched on earlier, video content has taken the world by storm. Blog writing still has a place, especially with the popularity of sites like Substack, but videos dominate the market. Every platform has seemingly integrated vertical, short-form videos into their interface and branding. That does not mean you need to dance to a rap about molecular cells, but it does mean looking into what kind of video editing aspects are popular. This could be anything from the font used for the text on your video, a song in the background, or even sound effects. Keyboard typing sound effects, for example, tend to be in viral videos. There’s a way in which your research can be simplified and made trendy without compromising your scientific integrity. Adding to that, focus on specific problems within the academic community. This can boost engagement within your community, and also shed light on problems in academia that the general public may not know about. Concerns about publishing, peer review, and the distinctions between disciplines are all good topics to touch on. Additionally, if you have a product to advertise, such as a journal or software, creating content about known issues you have the solution to will give you an edge over your competition. Social media isn’t going anywhere Not everyone is comfortable posting online, but the reality is that knowing how to use social media is a huge asset. Whether you stay within targeted academic communities, even on popular platforms such as X, or try to reach the masses, it’s important to learn how to establish an online community and create content for them. Start where you’re most comfortable. Writing might be your choice, and then you can integrate a podcast venture into your blog or Substack. From a podcast you can toy with the idea of creating videos. Each of these options has a direct path for growth. Just because you’re a scholar doesn’t mean you have to keep to yourself in the lab or the library. And if you’re not a fan of online spaces? Networking on social media can help you pivot into in-person meetups and community building. You’ll have a list of event attendees at the ready, and a newfound confidence in your ability to engage and direct an audience. Either way, social networking is crucial to getting your work out there, so why not get started?
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

453

The Potential of Posting Daily on Social Media

20 August 2026

Networking

The Potential of Posting Daily on Social Media

Social media is the new frontier. It’s the place to share knowledge, discuss research, and promote your in-progress and completed work. While all of this is well and good, the scope of social media is also daunting. How can you make an impact in oversaturated spaces? How do you know what part of your research to share and when? Most of these issues can be solved with this simple advice: just post daily. Goal-setting for beginners Before crafting your first perfect post, or even generating a profile, it’s important to determine what your goal is. This could look different for everyone, but generally, you’ll be choosing between three options: promoting your work, looking for jobs, and establishing a community. Of course, you can tackle all three pillars, but if you’re new to posting on social media, it’s best to start small. Choosing your main platform It’s tempting to stick to strictly academic platforms, such as SciProfiles and LinkedIn, and for good reason. These spaces are tailored to academics and professionals looking to boost their careers and make business connections. Discussion centers around progress, research, and community building. And these are the best places to test the waters when it comes to your content and workload (because posting on social media, even if just for yourself, is work). Additionally, because they prioritize written content over video, the barrier to entry is even lower. Anyone can type into the designated “create post” box, but there’s a steeper learning curve to filming and editing a video. Learning how to create all forms of content will come with time, especially if you’re consistently posting. But worrying about every possible outlet for your research today is not necessary. Trial and error: social media engagement The internet is a fickle place. Even on sites like SciProfiles, where your target audience is pretty much baked into the platform, the algorithm isn’t always going to showcase your posts. You have to train the platform to recognize your posts and boost their engagement. You do this through repetition and dedication: posting daily. Your to-do list, provided by SciProfiles Now, posting daily doesn’t mean putting anything that comes to mind out there. Maybe that works on platforms like X or when you’re not trying to build a community, but on social media for academics, this is not guaranteed to work. You can follow this handy checklist, though, to make sure you have set yourself up for maximum viewership: Your following and followers lists. Have you curated these to suit your interests and intended message? If you’re sharing your research, you’ll want to connect with other academics in your field. If you’re looking for opportunities, you’ll want to focus on people who work for the institutions you want to join. If someone can go to your profile and see that their research and network align with yours, they’ll be more inclined to keep checking your page. This will help you get more clicks on your posts. Be thoughtful. Are you typing just to type, or do you have a content strategy you’re following? Social media users appreciate well-made content. They’ll see you as an authority, will be more inclined to develop a relationship with you, and more keen to keep following your work. While the internet is full of funny and viral moments, if you’re after a professional goal, you’ll want to maintain a professional edge in your posts. Speaking of strategy, with your goal in mind, how are you building your content around it? If it’s drumming up excitement for your research, consider speaking about your daily progress. Maybe it’s a failure you want to share, a question you have to ask, or a breakthrough. Share the highs and lows of your progress. This invites people into a narrative they can easily track and engage with. Even if you’re looking for work, making yourself relatable has its perks. Not every resume will be chosen, and being honest with your audience about your rejections and where you want to improve can spark conversation and make you seem approachable. Everyone was a beginner once. You yourself may be one. Embrace that. Monitoring your social media posts’ metrics Not every day of the week is ripe in terms of engagement. Notably, weekdays during the morning and evening, especially in the earlier half of the week, are the best times to post. So if you’re committed to posting every day (and you should be, since the algorithm rewards activity, and the more you make yourself known to the platform, the more you’ll be made known to their userbase), expect to see dips in your progress. That being said, posting at a prime time doesn’t guarantee success. Keep note of how many comments, likes, and messages you receive after every post. Did people respond better to your content when you focused on a certain topic? Certain angle? Is there a format they prefer, such as long-form written content over brief updates? Some platforms track these metrics for you, and others may require you to write them down by hand. Either way, these metrics will also help you cross-post. If a short-form post performed well on SciProfiles, it can easily be translated to X. If a long-form post saw success on SciProfiles and LinkedIn, review the comments you received, and determine what the highlights of your post were. What points did people gravitate towards? Take those points and make them short-form content suitable for Stories on Instagram and Facebook. Some things to consider Social media, even if you’re not making money from it, is a job. You have to stay up-to-date, continuously expand your network, and maintain professionalism. It’s a lot, especially when you consider the other stressors in your life. Like all jobs, balance is needed to avoid burnout. Here are a few ways to ensure you meet your goals without impacting your mental health: Create content for a few posts at once. This way, you can schedule your content to post on a daily basis without having to actually craft them every single day. You’ll know that the information is unique, well-created, and ready to go. This gives you much needed downtime throughout the week. Limit your screentime in general. You don’t need to be on 24/7 in order to boost your career or research. It’s okay to have a set time to solely dedicate to building your social media pages. Some people may need an hour, others less. Find what works for you. And maybe don’t doom scroll between your dedicated hours. That can drag you down, too. One last thing: being thoughtful means determining what information can and should go out into the world. Open science is an invaluable resource that social media promotes. Much like preprints and open access publishers, posting your research on social media gives the general public access to your insights. This is a blessing, since more eyes means more viewpoints to engage with an learn from, as well as knowing that you’re breaking down barriers to information. It also means you can be misinterpreted or have your work stolen. Make sure you know your rights, what’s considered “published” on the internet, and what can be kept under wraps if you’re working on something particularly sensitive. Share! And share most everything. But use your discretion, too. Post now, not later We’ve all been exposed to social media, meaning we all know what we like to see and what we want more of. Use your preferences to your advantage. Create content that best represents who you are as a researcher and a person. Be strategic, but also have fun. At the end of the day, you’ll be collaborating with academics from all over. This is an exciting time to be online. Embrace those connections and just post!
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

337

Your Social Media Profile as a Resume

12 August 2026

NetworkingNavigating Your Career

Your Social Media Profile as a Resume

Now more than ever, your social media profile is the ticket to your future. Whether you’re trying to promote your research or are applying for jobs, employers and businesses are searching your name. Your posts, your pictures, and your profiles are part of your resume. Regardless of whether you’ve carefully crafted your social media to represent yourself professionally, it’s being taken into consideration along with your education and experience. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, though. Leveraging your profile is simple. And importantly, it’s effective. By platforming your experience, publications, and future goals, you’re telling your potential employers and networks who you are and what you have to offer. You are in control of your image, and you can use that power for success. Resume creation 101 Before you can begin working on your profile, you should learn the basics of building a good resume. Profile templates on social media platforms will keep your content readable and uniform, so no need to worry about choosing the right font. Additionally, the necessary information will be sectioned and ordered for you. What you need to focus on is the writing itself. Keep your sentences short and factual. Use descriptive, active language and avoid fluff, especially adjectives and adverbs that end in “-ly”. These are considered to be flowery words that do not add to your writing. Avoid being too stylistic, too. Be clear, not poetic. That doesn’t mean you can’t add your personality to your profile—just stick to anecdotes and fun facts over complex adjectives. Importantly, update your resume constantly. If it adds to your credentials, even if it was a temporary position, it’s worth mentioning. Thankfully, updating your social media profile is instant. This means your digital resume will always be current. Setting up your social media profile When it comes to setting up your profile, fill in everything. For example, with SciProfiles, you’re asked to create a short bio, title, and add keywords related to your expertise and research. The more information you have, the more searchable you are. It’s especially important to include a profile picture. Over half of our use base only clicks on posts made by accounts with profile pictures. Not only does a picture add credibility to your posts, but it also tells other users that you’re a real person. We’d like to assume we aren’t talking to bots online, but fake profiles are common and they are everywhere. Choose a photo of yourself that is professional, well lit, and/or of you doing work in the field. Also be sure to link your publications (if you have any) using your ORCID number, DOIs, and any BiBTex files. Having open access work at the ready ensures that whoever is looking at your page can get the full picture of you. If you have other social media profiles, a website, or a blog, share them, too. It’s about maximizing the visibility of your name, answering a potential connection or employer’s questions proactively, and boosting engagement across all your social media. With a wide variety of links and pages, too, you’ll be able to better express your personality. Since all social media platforms require different levels of professionalism, by tailoring your digital resume to each platform’s needs, you have more ways to show who you are. Update, update, and update your profile again Social media has given us all the opportunity to consistently show our progress in real time. Between making posts about our opportunities and current work and adding achievements to our profiles, keeping our network in the know has never been easier. So, take full advantage of the quickness of the internet. The moment you complete a job, internship, research project, etc. tell the world. Make it a permanent spot on your profile. To show that you’re always growing and working is to show future employers that you can adapt to new challenges and are eager to help. If you feel like opportunities aren’t coming your way, don’t hesitate to skill-up on your own. If you have the time and resources, considering taking courses that will add to your academic skillset. Find volunteer positions within your scientific community—just because something isn’t paid doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable. Obtain certifications for the jobs you’re after (if this is possible to do without belonging to a company or institution, of course). Be proactive by looking for the gaps in your experience and research and doing your best to fill them with the resources available to you. And with every task and certification completed, add it to your profile. Make a post to share your accomplishments. It’s not bragging, it’s highlighting what your assets are. Above all else, frame your experience and knowledge as a solution to your future employer’s problems. How are you going to benefit their workforce? How will you diversify their corporate culture? You are an addition, and additions should always be improving what they’re being added to. So long as you stay active and continuously update your social media profiles, the opportunities you’ve been looking for will find you. Put your best foot and profile photo forward, and you’ll see results.
Abbygail KroekerAbbygail Kroeker
Abbygail Kroeker

205

What’s New in SciProfiles for 2026?

25 July 2026

Platform Features

What’s New in SciProfiles for 2026?

SciProfiles has been relaunched with a clear mission. It aims to help researchers build a verified academic identity, increase the visibility of their contributions, and make meaningful connections that advance science. The new platform has been redesigned around the evolving needs of the research community. While the previous version focused primarily on showcasing academic information, the new SciProfiles places greater emphasis on discoverability, networking, and recognition. This update introduces a range of enhancements designed to simplify profile management, improve engagement, and create more opportunities for collaboration. In this article, we explore the vision behind the redesign. We also highlight the key features that make the new SciProfiles a more powerful platform for researchers. The vision behind the redesign The redesign is built on three core principles. First, SciProfiles enables researchers to create a comprehensive academic profile that accurately reflects their achievements. By providing a centralised space for scholarly information, researchers can present themselves with confidence across a range of academic and professional contexts. Second, the platform supports a trusted community of verified researchers. Verification helps ensure the credibility of profiles while making it easier for users to identify experts and connect with peers in their field. Third, SciProfiles is designed to facilitate meaningful academic networking. Researchers can be discovered more easily, exchange ideas through in-app messaging, and build connections that extend beyond conferences and other in-person events. The platform serves as a digital extension of academic networking, helping researchers maintain and expand their professional relationships throughout the year. Key enhancements in the latest release Several new features have been introduced to make profile management easier and provide a more complete representation of each researcher’s academic contributions. Automated Data Synchronisation Maintaining an accurate academic profile can be time-consuming, particularly when information must be entered manually. To address this, SciProfiles is introducing automated synchronisation for MDPI awards. Rather than requiring users to add award information themselves, eligible awards will be imported automatically. This reduces administrative effort, improves data accuracy, and ensures profiles remain up to date with minimal maintenance. Universal Contribution Builder Academic contributions extend far beyond a single publisher or organisation. In previous versions of SciProfiles, editorial activities were largely limited to MDPI-related roles, which did not always reflect the full scope of a researcher’s experience. The new Universal Contribution Builder allows researchers to record editorial positions and activities from external organisations, including major publishers and professional societies. By capturing a broader range of contributions, SciProfiles now provides a more complete picture of a scholar’s professional impact and service to the research community. Instant-Credit Logic Researchers often experience delays between submitting information and seeing it reflected on their profile. These delays can create a temporary mismatch between actual achievements and visible profile metrics. With the new Instant-Credit Logic, publication counts update immediately when new work is added. Once the submission has been verified, a verification badge is added to confirm its authenticity. This approach provides researchers with immediate recognition while maintaining trust and data integrity across the platform. Instant Research Highlights Visitors often form an impression of a profile within seconds. To make important information more accessible, SciProfiles now displays researchers’ achievements at the top of each profile. Statistics such as total publications, contributions, and impact are immediately visible without requiring users to navigate through multiple tabs. This makes profiles easier to evaluate and helps researchers communicate their academic achievements more effectively. How the new features empower researchers Beyond profile enhancements, the new SciProfiles includes features designed to improve discoverability and encourage meaningful engagement. Context-Aware Researcher Recommendations Finding new collaborators often depends on existing networks, making it difficult to discover relevant researchers outside one’s immediate field. To address this challenge, SciProfiles now provides context-aware recommendations. Rather than relying solely on manual searches, the platform suggests relevant scholars at key moments of the user’s journey, such as onboarding or content exploration. These recommendations help researchers expand their networks, discover new expertise, and uncover potential collaborations that may not have emerged through traditional search methods alone. Streamlined Search Experience The redesign applies the principle that simplicity improves usability. The previous platform included numerous filters and options that could make navigation more complicated than necessary. The new interface focuses on three core content categories: Scholars, Publications, and Posts. By prioritising the areas that users engage with most frequently, SciProfiles reduces complexity and enables researchers to find information more quickly and efficiently. In-Feed Content Discovery High-quality content is most valuable when it is easy to find. Previously, the platform placed blog content in a separate section, which made it less visible to many users. SciProfiles now integrates blog content directly into the main feed through dedicated content cards. This allows researchers to discover articles, insights, and updates naturally as they browse the platform, increasing exposure to valuable information without requiring additional navigation. Improvements that streamline user interaction The latest release introduces several enhancements that create a smoother, more engaging user experience. More Relevant Notifications Notifications are most effective when they provide clear and actionable information. The updated notification system prioritises direct interactions, such as replies to a user’s comment, rather than generic activity alerts. By providing greater context, these notifications make it easier for researchers to continue conversations and participate in ongoing discussions. Expanded Sharing Options and Faster Registration SciProfiles now supports content sharing on WeChat and Reddit, helping researchers reach wider academic communities across different regions and interest groups.   The platform also supports ORCID login, significantly simplifying the registration process. By reducing the steps required to create an account, SciProfiles makes it easier for new users to join and begin building their academic profile. Simplified Notification Management Managing large volumes of notifications can quickly become overwhelming. The new SciProfiles improves usability by grouping related notifications. You can create a single notification category for likes and bookmarks associated with the same publication. Notification settings have also been simplified, giving users greater control over their communication preferences while reducing complexity. Looking ahead The 2026 relaunch marks an important step in the evolution of SciProfiles. The platform now combines verified academic identities, improved discoverability, streamlined profile management, and enhanced networking tools, making it better equipped to support researchers throughout their academic journey. As the research landscape evolves, SciProfiles will continue to develop new features based on community feedback, ensuring it remains a valuable platform for showcasing expertise, building connections, and supporting scientific collaboration. Join SciProfiles today and discover new opportunities to share your work, expand your network, and grow your academic presence.
Jessica DaviesJessica Davies
Jessica Davies

666

of 5